Talk:Talon/@comment-6200344-20130919163527/@comment-7785527-20130922184106
You don't go out of mana unless you spam your spells/are mana inefficient. "What is mana efficiency? I don't know if it's a popular term used by the LoL community, but when I say you need to apply mana efficiency, I mean that you need to learn how to use your mana the most efficiently possible, without wasting mana. For example, if your champ were level 7, and you use a spell which at this level does 200 damage, and costs 90 mana, this is mana efficient. If instead, you use a spell you haven't been maxing which does 70 damage, and costs 60 mana, this is mana 'in'efficient. Why? Because for just 30 mana more, you would have done 130 more damage, by using the spell you're maxing. If you don't use your mana efficiently, you'll run out of mana. Which is why on most champs, it's better to ONLY harass with the spell you're maxing, and only use the spells you're not maxing when you absolutely NEED to use them ( e.g., Glacial Path to escape a gank ), or when you're going for the kill and you need as much damage as possible done at that very moment. If you use your mana efficiently, then usually you'll have enough mana to kill your enemy before going OOM. And I feel like this is important to make people understand, because I've had a lot of people ask me in the past how I deal with Talon's early mana problems, and my immediate reaction is “What mana problems?” Talon can be mana efficient in many ways. For example, look at his level 1. Rake does ~75 damage, and costs 60 mana. The enemy's HP bar is ~550, your mana bar is ~200. Is harassing with Rake mana efficient? NO. Your mana bar runs out MUCH faster than their HP bar, and you don't have any way of sustaining your mana, whereas they'll probably have at LEAST 2 HP pots. So Talon can't be mana efficient at level 1? Wrong, there is a way. W isn't mana efficient, but W followed by 1 or 2 auto-attacks enhanced by his passive IS mana efficient. Now don't get me wrong, you can't just W and auto-attack your everyday mid laner, because they're ranged, and simply TRYING to auto-attack them would be a huge over-extension. Not to mention that any smart player won't even let you touch them. But meelee champions need to be right next to you sometimes if they want to get a last-hit. If they go for a CS and you don't need to get a last-hit yourself at that moment, you can throw a W and chase them during the slow for 1 or 2 auto-attacks. For 60 mana, you not only did the ~75 damage from W, but also however much damage through auto-attacks you could land thanks to the slow. THIS burns their HP bar faster than your mana bar. THIS, is mana efficiency. However, this only works vs meelee champs, and vs ranged champs you shouldn't bother trying to harass. At level 2, W Q costs 90 mana and does some decent damage. You know what does more damage for the same amount of mana? W AA Q. Even a third AA if you can fit it in would be swell. But remember this only works vs meelee champs. Vs ranged champs, at level 2 you'd have W and E. Great, you have a gap closer, a way of REACHING your enemy. So you can W E AA to be mana efficient? Wrong. E pretty much does 0 damage for 35 mana. At level 2 you should almost never use your E unless it's to escape a gank somehow. When you have your 3 main spells, there are various techniques that can be quite mana efficient. First of all, W on its own is pretty much never mana efficient until around level 7 when it does quite a lot of damage and you have a decent mana bar yourself. E Q W is more mana efficient than W. BUT, W E Q is more mana efficient than the last variation, because your E's damage amp is so tiny this early on that it's more valuable to have your passive amplify your E and Q's auto-attacks, rather than have your E amplify them. HOWEVER, even more mana efficient than this, is E Q W AA AA. E will do one AA, Q will reset your AA animation and attack again, W will slow them, and the slow will both keep them in your range to fit in 2 more auto-attacks, and amplify the damage of said auto-attacks. When you have your 3 spells, THIS is the most mana efficient combo you can do. However, with no wards, it can be quite a risky combo to do as it's also the longest combo, and you don't know if the enemy jungler was on their way to gank you when you over-extended so suddenly. If you're not sure about the enemy jungler's position and don't want to place yourself in TOO much risk, but you do still want to be aggressive, you will want to use W E Q. W to slow them, E and Q to AA them twice with attacks which will be amplified by your passive, and then you can just run away back to safety in case the enemy jungler jumps out of the brush at that moment. That's it about mana efficiency I think. HOPEFULLY this helped you, because I honestly don't really have that many mana problems when I'm not facing bruisers, and I think the reason some people do is because they don't know how to use their mana efficiently. But now they should, hopefully! So tl;dr of this whole thing, use your mana efficiently, and your enemy's HP bar will drop faster than your mana bar. Use your mana unefficiently, and your mana bar will drop faster than their HP bar. Simplez. P.S., not really related to mana efficiency but to do with mana, at level 18 you need at least 285 mana to cast your full burst. Bear that in mind." -Vapora Dark, The New Talon